Search This Blog

Ubuntu VirtualBox and no sound in Windows7 issue

My Windows7 crashed and as we do our most of the development in ubuntu it makes sense to install ubuntu as host. But when I installed Windows7 there was no sound coming in it. Thanks to ubuntu community the solution was tedious due to my mistake but finally I did it. The way to do is :

1) Make sure you have proper virtualbox version. I had the OSE version but my ubuntu is lucid version so I needed that virtual box. If you get "Error: Conflicts with the installed package 'virtualbox-ose'" that means you have to use Applications->Ubuntu Software Centre to uninstall all virtualbox OSE package (in my case there were 3 packages).
2) Download and install the virtualbox lucid version. It will automatically detect old hardisks and upgrade it.
3) You need to VM settings in virtualbox and go to audio and select Alsa Ac97 driver.
4) start your VM and now go to realtek AC97 driver http://www.download3k.com/System-Utilities/System-Maintenance/Download-Realtek-AC-97-Drivers.html
5) When installing if it complains choose install anyways option and restart your VM

I have a thumbnail generator that launches multiple processes and the correct way to shut it down is to send kill -HUP to the parent process. To automate I had to write a pid file from python, it was a piece of cake
def writePidFile():
pid = str(os.getpid())
f = open('thumbnail_rabbit_consumer.pid', 'w')
f.write(pid)
f.close()

About Me

I like writing good code and improve myself every day by learning new things. I like working for startups as they give you tons of challenges than working for a big company, not sure if you guys feel it but simple programming quirks give me tons of joy. This blog is about the things that I worked on and found worth sharing with fellow programmers who are googling for solutions like me.
This weblog does not represent the thoughts, intentions, plans or strategies of my employer. It is solely my opinion.